business x learning x social media

January 14, 2010

Social bookmarking is a great way to save interesting articles you find online. And, because they're stored on the web, they're easily accessible from any platform with an internet connection.

For trainers, presenters and workshop providers, social bookmarking is also a great tool for research in preparation for your teaching sessions. And, if you use certain bookmark-organization features, like Lists and Tags, you can easily create "online Takeaways" for your next training program or workshop. This video shows how to do that using the social bookmarking web site, Diigo.

Note: In the video, I referenced a couple of articles that inspired this video. I promised to list them in this post. You can find them below, along with a link to the list I created in the video. It's also the same list I now create as "takeaways" for any social media-related training sessions and workshops.

December 14, 2009

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December 13, 2009

Last week I posted an article about conducting a SWOT analysis. One of the metaphors I used in that post were tools of paper and pen or flipchart and marker to facilitate a SWOT analysis. But, as you can imagine, there are a lot of ways to facilitate group activities like this.

In this video, I want to show you another way I've facilitated these kinds of meetings using flexible mindmapping software. (You can enlarge the video, by the way, by clicking the expand button next to the volume bar.) The SWOT shown in the this video is an actual analysis for a client I worked with in the past. While I have permission to show it, I did take time anyway to sanitize it for any references to company names, people and product labels.

Also, on a related note, I've already gotten a few sign-ups from folks who wanted to be notified when I post the e-book that compiles the facilitation tips and tools I've used and have written about in past articles. Click here and I'll make sure I keep you updated on the timeframe. Which, with the holidays and so on, is looking like sometime soon after the first of the year.

Also, on a related not, I've already gotten a few sign-ups from folks who wanted to be notified when I post the e-book where I compile the facilitation tips and tools I've used and have written about in past articles. Sign up below and I'll make sure I keep you updated on the timeframe which, with the holiday and so on, is looking like soon after the first of the year. (And, no worries. I don't spam and won't sell your information to any third-parties.)

*** This signup has closed. ***

If you liked this, or any of the articles on this site, please subscribe!Are you a fellow "Tweep"? Follow me on Twitter (@melaclaro)Or, connect with me on LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/in/melaclaro.Got friends? Forward this post or save it to any of the bookmarking sites below.

December 12, 2009

Here's the time-delayed 'teaser I posted through my Facebook network yesterday. (Feel free to link up with me there, too, in case we're not already connected. I usually post these over there a day before putting it up on my blog and elsewhere.)

Hint: We all have some of this at the end of the year.(Click here for the answer my friends came up with.)

If you liked this, or any of the articles on this site, please subscribe!Are you a fellow "Tweep"? Follow me on Twitter (@melaclaro)Or, connect with me on LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/in/melaclaro.Got friends? Forward this post or save it to any of the bookmarking sites below.

If you liked this, or any of the articles on this site, please subscribe!Are you a fellow "Tweep"? Follow me on Twitter (@melaclaro)Or, connect with me on LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/in/melaclaro.Got friends? Forward this post or save it to any of the bookmarking sites below.

If you liked this, or any of the articles on this site, please subscribe!Are you a fellow "Tweep"? Follow me on Twitter (@melaclaro)Or, connect with me on LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/in/melaclaro.Got friends? Forward this post or save it to any of the bookmarking sites below.

December 09, 2009

As 2009 winds down and we each begin getting geared up for the opportunities in 2010, now's the time to start in on updating that business plan. Even if you don't own your own business, it's still immensely helpful to take a milestone assessment of your department, company, team, or what have you, as you plan budgets and resources for the coming year. Here's where a SWOT analysis can help.

December 08, 2009

If you've ever facilitated a workshop or a training session, then you know how difficult it can sometimes be to pull everyone back into the room right after a break. But, that's usually the first challenge. Once you have them back in the room, the next challenge is to get the brain juices flowing again.

"Brain teasers" were fun little activities I found helpful in getting folks back into the groove again. The trick is to make 'em short, not too difficult so as to be a turn-off, but also not so easy as to be boring. The little snip above is an example of one from a series of 5-10 slides I'd have up on the screen for people to try and make sense of. I've been known to throw chocolates and candy around the room to those who guessed correctly. (I found the sugar was a good little booster, too.) :)

The brain teaser above is an easy one. After all, I give it to you right in the title to this post. But, how about the one below? Any takers?

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But, yesterday's "most read" list was based on the tally by a niche community of Learning professionals at eLearningLearning.com. If, on the other hand, I look at a tally using Google analytics, a different list comes up. The differences aren't surprising and are mainly due to one method tallying clicks to my posts from visitors to the eLearningLearning web site. While, Google analytics on the other hand tallies clicks via visitors on my site, as well as those who arrive via keyword searches on Google's search engine.)

Insight - We Love Lists.

Though interesting, I can't say there were any real surprises here. Conventional wisdom for blogging says that visitors prefer reading articles with some kind of list. ("Favorite 10 tools..."; "2 activities to maximize...(something)"; "An 8-step process..."; and so on. As a matter of fact, this post will probably generate some views because it, too, is a type of list..."The top 10 articles at BusinessCasualBlog.com...".)

Insight - We Love "How Tos".

The other thing conventional wisdom says that blog visitors like to read is some kind of a tutorial or procedural "how to". I had quite a few of those this year with my posts about meeting facilitation techniques. As a matter of fact, so popular were these this year that a review of visits by keyword shows that many folks are finding my blog through search engines using the words "networking activities". Since this seems to be an area of need for my readers, I'll make it a point to scrub memories and project notes from the good 'ol days as a management consultant with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). Don't be surprised if you see me make an e-book or two available for download. (Will that be helpful? Let me know.)

Other popular keywords were, interestingly, "business casual blog". That tells me there's some name recognition I'm enjoying for my blog since folks seem to search for it for it by name. Others: "meeting icebreakers"; "rosie"; "google wave".

Suggestion - Implement Analytics for Your Blog in 2010.

Some of you with whom I've spoken about blogging might be a little amazed about the insight I'm able to glean from the underlying analytics. There's nothing sinister here (it doesn't go down to the person-level of detail, for example). All the analytics are at a fairly generic level using metrics such as: number of page views, number of unique visitors, visitor sources by keyword, visitor sources by site referrals, etc., etc. You're right, it is pretty amazing. Those are just a few of the metrics you can track.

My point, though, is that if you're thinking about starting a blog in 2010, strongly consider adding Google Analytics to your blog. It's another form of monitoring the conversation, which I've written about before and which I reserved a chapter for in the book Stefan and I wrote this year.

Based on the insights I gathered, I'll be focusing more on providing meeting facilitation tips and "how to" type posts and tutorials in 2010. Let me know if you'd like me to add a tutorial for how to add Google Analytics to your blog or web site.

As always, thanks for visiting. And, in case nobody has said so yet, let me be among the first to wish you happy holiday and a joyous Christmas season. :)

If you liked this, or any of the articles on this site, please subscribe!Are you a fellow "Tweep"? Follow me on Twitter (@melaclaro)Or, connect with me on LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/in/melaclaro.Got friends? Forward this post or save it to any of the bookmarking sites below.

November 17, 2009

Sometimes I just want an alternative to the same 'ol brainstorming session. Here's a simple alternative that I learned during my good 'ol days as a consultant with Andersen Consulting. (Now Accenture.) It's called the 5-3-5 method. (Don't ask... I'm not sure who came up with that name. But, in case you're wondering, "5-3-5" supposedly derives from the concept that this variation to brainstorming requires "five people (though this can vary), three ideas, five minutes."

Purpose:

Use this as an alternative to the traditional brainstorming session. It makes use of structured idea-generation while allowing equal participation among participants.

The Tools:

Setup:

Although it's easy enough to create the "idea forms" on the fly during the session, it sometimes helps to just go ahead and have these prepared ahead of time. They're easy. Using a sheet of paper (or flipchart paper), create a form with room for a theme statement (the central issue about which you'd like to generate ideas), three columns and five rows. It should look like this:

Make sure you make enough copies for every participant.

Procedure:

1. Group participants into teams of 3 to 5 people.

2. Introduce the issue statement. This will be the central issue for which you want to generate ideas.

3. Give each group member a copy of the idea form discussed above.

4. Allow the participants no more than about five minutes to write three ideas on the first available row of the form. At the end of the allotted time, instruct participants to pass the forms they just wrote on to the team member on their right.

5. Tell participants to read the ideas on the form which they received from the team member on their left. Then, take five minutes to write three ideas of their own in the cells of the next available row on the idea form.

6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until all cells in each row of the idea forms have been filled in.

7. Collect the sheets and post them where everyone can see them. (Alternative: Allow the participants to take a break while you and a helper write all the ideas on a flipchart.)

Result:

This activity will have produced a lot of ideas for you in relatively little time. It also has the added benefit of allowing each participant to submit her/his idea with some degree of relief from any pressures inadvertently brought on by co-mingling supervisors and subordinates at the same meeting.

If you liked this, or any of the articles on this site, please subscribe!Are you a fellow "Tweep"? Follow me on Twitter (@melaclaro)Or, connect with me on LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/in/melaclaro.Got friends? Forward this post or save it to any of the bookmarking sites below.